Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 417 



hardly so good an angler, fishing after the ice had gone, got 13 one 

 forenoon. 



The true sportsman who comes to the lake, however, is little 

 concerned with the number of fish he catches. He would wish for 

 some probability not quite a dead sure certainty that he would 

 get a strike from some big gamy bass. He would wish that bass 

 so full of maneuvers and tactics as to test his skill to the utmost, 

 and make the issue of the battle uncertain. He would like per- 

 haps another boat in the distance, but not too near, to help tell the 

 story of the fight, and to tell it as a disinterested spectator. And 

 if a really big bass is landed, it is perhaps with a twinge of regret 

 that he finds it necessary to take the fish along as a proof of his 

 veracity instead of turning it loose with the hope that he or some 

 one else may meet it again in battle. 



During the autumn the young bass can be caught in the Outlet 

 by the crude method of the old long cane pole and worm bait. On 

 October 22, a boy was seen fishing from the railroad bridge with 

 worms. He had caught 2 Straw Bass each about 5 inches long. 



The Straw Bass begins spawning about the middle of May. 

 On May 30, 1901, about a dozen nests were found. They consisted 

 of circular depressions filled in with pebbles from about the size 

 of a hen's egg down; some of them being finer, others of coarser, 

 gravel, and they were from one foot to about 2| feet across in a 

 depth of about 6 feet of water. The nests were found off Kreutz- 

 berger's, in front of the Palmer house and east of Lakeview hotel, 

 also off the stone breakwater near the northeast shore of the lake. 

 At the time the nests were found they were filled with little black 

 young which looked much like carpet tacks scattered over the bot- 

 tom. It is claimed by some of the fishermen about the lake that 

 the bass will bite from the nest, and that during the nesting season 

 it is easy for one who knows where the nests are to go from one 

 to another and catch a number of fish. 



The Straw Bass caught in the lake average from 3 to 3i pounds 

 or less. The largest specimen, so far as verified records go, 

 weighed 8 pounds. One fisherman in June, 1895, caught an 8- 

 pounder which weighed 5J pounds when dressed. Another fish- 

 erman, fishing from a pier, caught one weighing 8 pounds and just 

 24 inches long; one man claims to have got one of 8f pounds. A 

 great many fishes were weighed, and a number were both meas- 

 ured and weighed, occasional weights are 5, 5^ and 6^ pounds. 

 The following table gives the weights and measurements of a num- 

 ber of Straw Bass taken at the lake : 



